MENA Regional Summer School: “Astronomy with Small Telescopes”

Small telescopes are optimal for the developing world. They can be used for public outreach, education, and with the proper instrumentation, astronomical research. The MENA region holds many observatories and projects equipped with small telescopes. Lebanon’s first small facility will be online late 2012. We, thus, plan to have a regional summer school on astronomy with small telescopes in late August 2013 in Lebanon. The school is intended for advanced physics students, and graduate students in physics and astronomy, It aims to show how small telescopes can be used in astronomical research. It will provide basic training on the use of small telescopes and present the science that is doable with such instruments. The capacity of the school will be 40 students. Instructors will be astronomers from Lebanon, the region, and from Europe and North America. The program of the school will assume the existence of a basic level in physics appropriate to advanced physics undergraduates, and minimal formal knowledge of astronomy. It will cover topics related to galaxies, stars, solar system objects, exoplanets, from the viewpoint of small telescopes. The school’s lectures will be at a level accessible to advanced undergraduate students in physics.